When FP Burns, Finn Will Learn
by Juri.DP
Summary: Everyone deserves a second chance, but the same could be said about first chances.
1. Chapter 1

**So...I wrote this before 'Breezy' aired, but I was determined to post this on my birthday. Use those imaginations like the champs you are!**

**And we shall mark this date! 06/09/14**

**Enjoy!**

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Jake looked out the window of the Treehouse. It was getting dark, and he had a bad feeling about tonight.

"Finn, I'm not so sure you should be doing this."

"It's cool, man," Finn assured, packing his bag with veiled eagerness. "It's just an evening walk. Nothing strange there."

Jake grumbled, pulling on his skin in odd ways. "I dunno, man. You're just gonna gronk up your emotions again."

"Nah, dude." Finn stood, securing his backpack around his shoulders. Jake watched as the boy ran to a mirror and adjusted his hat.

He didn't like this setup.

For crying out loud, Finn had _showered_ these last few days.

With _soap_.

"Finn..." Jake wanted to reason with him but didn't know how to get through.

The hero laughed, flexing the temporary robotic arm (that was encased around his flower); he's been polishing it every day. "You don't needa be so worried, grandma." He smiled excitedly, jumping down the tree hole with a 'hup'. "Don't wait up!"

Jake turned to the window again, seeing Finn run off to the forest. This wasn't going to end well, but he couldn't force Finn to do the right thing. He's made a lot of questionable decisions ever since the break up, so he had to learn for himself.

Instead of worrying, Jake turned to BMO for a comforting video game and called Lady.

* * *

This was only a chance he was taking. Flambo had told him about her odd habits, so it was something to check in to.

At least once a month, maybe, Flame Princess would go to the forest near the treehouse, and maybe...

Just maybe...

Finn walked through the forest joyfully, swinging his newly acquired sword. He was going to take this as the ultimate sign. There was no guarantee she would be there on this particular day, so, if he saw her, then he should at least give it one more shot. If he saw nothing at all – nothing that indicated she had been there or would be there – then that would be it.

But he was sure it would happen.

He knew it would.

He laughed, too fueled on excitement and anticipation, and began searching the forest.

For two hours, he saw nothing and no one. It was then that his anxiety and doubts began to set in. The plan was to see the sign – if it was there at all – but what if he got the urge to act upon it right then and there? If Flame Princess was within his reach, he was sure he'd talk to her. That wouldn't be wise because talking to the ladies had become a mass of embarrassing screw ups, but he knew how impulsive he was.

He knew how impulsive he wanted to be.

He pulled on his hat nervously, and that's when he saw it.

A dim light could be seen up ahead, slightly masked by the trees.

That was the sign.

That's all he needed to go on, but Finn began to follow the light, keeping all sounds to a minimum. As the light grew brighter, he smiled nervously – excited – anxious. Then he was finally able to see.

She stood there, back turned to him, as little balls of fire floated around her. Her arms were delicately held at her sides, her hands gingerly poised. Slowly, she raised her right arm, and the tiny flames followed, rising higher into the air. She did the same with her left until an array of fire hovered over her head.

"Take the pain, take the memories," she muttered, swirling the flames. "Restore and heal this broken part of me."

The flames turned a bright pink.

"No," she muttered, frustrated. "Restore. _Heal_."

Steadily, the flames became a dark purple.

She stopped her spinning, opening her arms to the sky; the flames swirled into one giant ball. She took hold of it, pulling it into herself. She changed to the shade of dark purple for a moment before she released it, sending a visible heat wave from her body. A burst of fire exploded into the air, which resulted in a rain of sparkles twinkling down.

"Whoa," Finn muttered, dazed.

Flame Princess gasped, whirling around. "...Finn?"

He laughed, stepping forward. "Heya, FP."

She squinted. "What happened to your arm?"

He looked at it, moving it around. "I lost it trying to catch my dad."

"You have a dad?"

"Yeah. He was frozen in the Citadel forever, but I freed him..." He frowned, raising a brow as he stared at the grass. "He ran away to space."

"Whoa... That's rough."

He shrugged. "Dads, am I right?"

She laughed briefly. There was an awkward silence that followed. To her knowledge, they met purely by accident, and she wasn't entirely sure if that warranted a conversation. When Finn made no move to continue on his way, she finally spoke again.

"So...what are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know... Taking a walk."

"Oh. Okay." She paused. "Well... Bye."

"Wait, hold on!" Finn called, following her. "What are you doing so far away from Flame Kingdom? Don't you, like...need to rule and stuff?"

She turned to him. "Yeah, but, I need some time to myself. Cinnamon Bun takes over when I'm gone."

"Do you come here often? We could...you know, hang out."

"Actually, I just come here when I need to get stuff off my chest. I don't have a lot of free time."

"Oh, what? That's banana bread." He smiled, feigning coming up with a spur of the moment idea. "Why not stay for a while? CB is watching the FK, so you could chill here so we can puh-lay."

"Sorry, Finn, I have a kingdom to run." She stopped to think, smiling. "Why don't you come with me? You haven't visited since my dad tried to overthrow me."

"Yeah..." He rubbed the back of his head with his robot arm, hurting himself more than anything. "I'm always busy."

"Oh, that's too bad. Well, you know, you're still welcome anytime."

Finn smiled. "Yeah, yeah, I know."

She smiled, waving, before turning to leave again.

He watched her. He got what he wanted – he saw her and things had felt normal.

Was that an even bigger sign?

There was no way for him to know for sure, but he became agitated.

"Uh... Flame Princess?"

She turned.

"How..._are _things with Cinnamon Bun? I mean...on a scale of one to ten, how serious are you taking this being 'your champion' jumbo?"

"Finn..." She looked away briefly, hugging herself. "Things with Cinnamon Bun are great. He's a very awesome friend."

"Friend-friend or...?"

She didn't want to believe the conversation was heading down this road, but, she supposed, a mutual talk was long overdue. The only problem was... She said everything she wanted to – she made it very clear that she had bigger responsibilities now. Why wasn't he able to think the same?

"I told you how I felt about 'us'."

"Yeah, I know, you did, and I get it, but..." He laughed nervously, his eyes uncomfortably shifting. "We had a lot of good times."

"Yeah, we did...but we're different. I feel different."

"You don't have to." Finn shook his arms, panicked. "It's possible to feel different but also feel the same."

"I've moved on, Finn."

His eyes softened, his mood draining at an exponential rate. "So...you and Cinnamon Bun-"

"No, not me and Cinnamon Bun." She sighed, frustrated. "I've moved on emotionally – I made myself better because of it. I think you'd be better if you moved on, too."

"I'm better – I'm totally better! I have this cool robotic arm now, and-and this sword!" He hastily presented it high in the air, but his clamp of a hand lost its grip, sending the weapon flying.

They both looked up in alarm – it was headed right for Flame Princess.

"Flame Princess!" Finn yelled, darting towards her. He wrapped his arm around her, shielding her with his body, just as her flames grew bright.

The sword disintegrated before it could even touch them.

"Finn!" the flame elemental yelled, shoving him away. "What are you doing?!"

"Wh-wha- no. I was just..."

She stared at him as he babbled, her fear and anger quickly turning to confusion. He had just been engulfed in her flames, yet, he wasn't horribly burned. At worst, he was singed here and there. Was the poison still affecting her this much? Even if it was, a flame like that would harm him.

"Finn," she said, cutting him off, "why aren't you hurt?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but a short laugh exited instead. "Princess Bubblegum... Um, she's been working on ways to make the Candy People fire resistant. She got scared over the whole Ice Kingdom being burned dow- I'm _really_ sorry about that, by the way."

"You let her _experiment_ on you?"

He scratched his head, frowning. "I mean...she doesn't know she is. She leaves her lab door wide open sometimes."

"Why would you do that?"

"Well, it was _wide _open, so I thought, 'Hey, why not go inside-'"

"Not that. Why would you tamper with your DNA?"

"I was-!" He had to stop himself; he was getting worked up again. Not really knowing why, he took off his hat – blonde hair barely touching his shoulders – and shoved it into his pocket. "Flame Princess, just hear me out. What I did to you... That was wrong – I get that, but I'm willing to change. Ice King – me and him are cool now. And-and my lying... I don't do it to hurt people anymore."

"Finn, I'm not looking for a relationship."

"That's okay! See, maybe we're just too young, you know? But maybe we can try again next week."

"Next...week?"

"You told me you wanted honesty, right? Well, here it is. I'm..." He frowned, straightening his posture as best he could despite the coloring of his cheeks. "I'm not over you. I made a mistake, but I want to change – I'm willing to change my genetic makeup for you! If you just give me another chance, I promise I won't ever hurt you again."

"That's sweet and all, but... Finn, I never wanted you to change. I liked the you I always knew – the you that was carefree and lively. I can't like _you_, but I know I could never like a you that wasn't you."

"But...I can be me, too."

"You don't get it, Finn." She glanced to the side, seeing far beyond the horizon. "Look, I really have to go, but we can..." She sighed, shaking her head. "Honestly, I don't want to talk about this again. I just want to go back to being friends – you know. It'll be less awkward."

Finn's shoulders slumped, his eyes looking to the side. "Yeah... Less awkward."

"But...we're still cool, right?"

He looked at her, his eyes dead. "Honestly?"

"Honestly."

"We're...luke warm."

* * *

Jake was fully engaged in his game, yelling through the phone at Lady of his successes and failures. When the front door opened, he didn't notice, but the screen and phone suddenly went blank.

"BMO! What the stuff?!"

"Finn is home!" BMO yelled, jumping off the table and running towards the boy who had entered, phone and controller lagging behind.

Jake looked up before flopping on the couch. "That was fast."

"Yeah..." Finn dragged himself to the couch with BMO firmly latched onto his sock. He sat down, slumping to an extreme degree.

"Did something happen?"

"I've tried being honest twice...and it still gets me nowhere."

"You just need to be patient." Jake wrapped himself around Finn's neck, morphing into a scarf. "Ladies are delicate leaves, dude. If you don't know how to handle 'em, they'll just crumble."

Finn groaned, slipping further into himself. "My heart feels like a leaf..."

"Mm... Maybe it's time to move on, dude. This isn't healthy."

"Yeah...maybe..." He perked up, thinking. "Unless...this is a test."

"Yeah, it's probably a... Wait, what?"

"Yeah! I mean, there's no way Cinnamon Bun can really be a champion of anything. She's testing me to see if I can prove myself, so _I_ can be her champion."

"...Dude, that's not what she's trying to do at-!"

"Alright!" Finn shot up to his feet, somehow flinging Jake off of him. "Tomorrow I start my training!" He ran to the ladder and scurried up to the bedroom.

BMO crawled over to the fallen Jake, sitting next to his head.

"I don't think Finn is a-ble to deal with his e-mo-tions in an a-ppro-pri-ate man-ner."

Jake nodded in agreement, frowning. "Yeah... But he's gotta learn to make the right choices on his own."


	2. Chapter 2

**I thought about it, and... Yeah, sure, I can turn this into something. Adventure Time is kinda hard to write, though.**

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"Dance! Dance! Dance!"

"BMO, cut it out!"

"Dance! Dance!" BMO ran around the room, holding Jake's wrist and thoroughly wrapping him around the living room. "Hahaha, dance!"

"This is not dancing, this is-"

A loud, prolonged howling distracted Jake. He stretched his face over to the window and saw a familiar pooch outside.

"Enough playing, BMO, Finn's home."

BMO gasped, releasing him. "Yaaaay! Doggie!"

Jake unraveled himself and frowned as the multifunctional device jumped out the window. He stretched himself down to the ground below and walked toward the group. "Hey, Fire Pooch."

The fire wolf grumbled a form of greeting and shook itself, causing a panting, sweating Finn to fall to the ground in a heap.

"Thanks for that," Jake said. "Tell Cinnamon Bun and Flame Princess I said hi."

The wolf grumbled again, scrunching its snout.

"Hahaha, eh... Yeah, okay." He looked down. "BMO, get off Fire Pooch so he can go home!"

"Doggie!" BMO nuzzled the fire element's leg, not seeming to care about the acquired burns.

After Jake detached his friend, the fire wolf ran off. Jake walked over to Finn, looking down at him. His skin was red, and his hair was sticking to his face with some locks frayed and poking out of his hat. "You said you'd come home before you got like this."

Finn mumbled unintelligibly.

Sighing, Jake grabbed both Finn and BMO and stretched them back inside. He placed Finn on the sofa and let BMO run off somewhere. He stared at the boy a moment longer before going to find the ointment.

* * *

Finn awoke the next morning to his arm throbbing. He peeled his eyes open, first looking to the dresser where Jake slept; for a long moment, he watched him sleep soundly. He then rolled his head to the right and saw the darkened patch of skin that was the entirety of his arm – or what was left of it. Because of his frequent visits to the Fire Kingdom – and his prolonged stays – his robotic arm was beginning to burn his flesh. The whatever concoction he was taking in Princess Bubblegum's lab made him resistant enough to last around high temperatures for at least four hours, but it couldn't protect him from metal increasing that heat at such a close range. As a result, his flower had wilted and died a long time ago.

It never crossed his mind to change anything.

He pulled himself out of bed and walked to the bathroom. He spotted the jar of ointment on the sink and sat on the toilet before applying it to his arm. Groggy – and a bit disoriented from passing out – he noted that he was almost out of the ointment and would have to get more soon. He didn't know if it actually helped him because he never gave his wound time to heal, but it did soothe the pain he felt – not that he was feeling much in his right arm anymore.

Finn sat in the bathroom for thirty minutes, staring at the wall, not thinking. When his mind finally cleared, he grinned to himself, and in slurred excitement murmured-

"Aaaaaaaaaadventure time."

* * *

"BMO, eggs!"

"Eggs!" The tiny machine jumped from the counter and landed on the homemade seesaw, sending three eggs flying across the room.

Finn braced himself, frying pan in hand. "HYA!" The eggs collided into the pan, and Finn scooped it down before they could fall out. "Extreeeeeeeeme Breakfast!"

"Breakfast!" BMO exclaimed.

"Breakfast!" Jake joined, descending from the ladder. "What are we doiiiiiiiiiin'?"

"How's it goin', baby?" Finn greeted from a stack of miscellaneous items that almost made him touch the ceiling. He dumped the contents of the pan below, sending them through a strainer halfway through, and into another pan that was heated on the stove.

Jake looked around the room, noticing three plates with bacon and toasts with glasses of juice, which drew his eyes to the assortment of homemade devices that aided in making them. "C'mon, Finn, Extreme Breakfast? It's only cool when I do it, too."

"Well, maybe next time you won't sleep so late."

"Late? It's only two in the afternoon."

"Whatever, let's eat. I'm going to see Princess Bubblegum after this."

"Hey, while you're at it, let her take a look at your arm. It's getting all gross and beef jerky-y."

Finn shrugged. "Hickeys from the universe."

"Scars from the multiverse," Jake muttered, taking a seat at the table.

* * *

"Princess! Hey, PB, where are you?"

Finn wandered around the castle, looking for a princess that no one had seen for over an hour. Since no one had complained of seeing Ice King lurking around – and there was not a chill in the air indicating he had been there – the adventurer didn't see a cause to worry. Instead, he saw an opportunity and headed for the lab. When he came to the door, he poked his head in, knocking as he did so.

"PB? You in here?"

There was no answer, and, looking around, he discovered she wasn't in here either. He walked inside the dim room, glancing over all the equipment and documents as he went. The bright yellow liquid in the flask immediately caught his attention. It was sitting on a table where the only light source shone down on it. Finn walked to it, picking up the flask, but paused when he saw a map of Ooo. There were a lot of pen marks that he couldn't determine the meaning of, but there was a swirled water formation that was circled. It was a spiraled river that was connected with the Fire Kingdom – among other place – and Finn wondered if this had anything to do with Princess Bubblegum's disappearance.

"Hm..." Finn mused over the map, drinking from the flask. "It's always something with you, Princess."

* * *

After his business in the Candy Kingdom, Finn headed to the Flame Kingdom. The walks there never felt any shorter, so he contemplated on having Jake take him from now on. Of course, if he did, he'd have to deal with the _this-isn't-healthy-dude_'s and the _there-are-a-lot-of-available-princesses-in-Ooo_'s. He understood Jake's concern, but things with him and Flame Princess were fine. They were hanging out on a regular basis, and it was kinda fun to gawk at the former Flame King.

When he approached the castle, Princess Bubblegum was there (dressed in her flame resistant suit), and there was...someone...with her. She had her arm around the shoulders of some grey being, and, as he got closer, he saw that they were both facing Flame Princess. They were talking about something he couldn't quite make sense of.

"And so," Princess Bubblegum said, "I'd like the two of you to get along from now on."

"I'm confused," Flame Princess said. "He's...the prince of the Stone Kingdom...but we don't have a Stone Kingdom."

"Well, not yet. A stone castle should be up within two days, and, since it's so close to Flame Kingdom, I figured I'd give you a heads up. And he's not a prince – he'll just watch over the kingdom."

"So, he's a king."

"Not quite. He's just Vince."

"Hey, princesses," Finn called, all eyes turning to him.

"Hey, Finn," Flame Princess greeted.

"Finn..." Princess Bubblegum didn't look too excited. "How are you not burning without a suit?"

The hero coughed, averting his gaze. "Ah – uh – hey! Who's this guy here?"

"This is Vince... I made him to rule over the Stone Kingdom."

"What Stone Kingdom?"

"I'm working on that." She turned to the other boy. "Vince, this is Finn – he's a human. Think of him as an important protector of Ooo."

Finn focused on the boy known as Vince. He was about his height – maybe a little taller – and was entirely made of stone. It was hard to tell if he had muscle or if that was just his natural element, but the chiseled mass that was his hair mirrored a formal, slick backed style. Really, he had all the features and characteristics of a humanoid from the pearl and onyx gems that made up his eyes to the hint of eyebrows above them.

He smiled at Finn, extending his hand. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Hero. You look to be around my age, so I hope we can be friends.

Finn smiled responsively and shook the boy's hand. Vince's voice was slightly deeper than his own, but he did appear to be his age.

"Uh, Vince," Princess Bubblegum said, "you're holding his hand too tight."

Finn and Vince looked down to find the hero's robotic hand crushed.

"Oh, glob!" the stone element yelled, snatching his hand away. "I am so sorry!"

"No worries." Finn raised his hand to his face, trying to flex it in vain. "I don't feel in it anyway. So...you're going to rule over the new Stone Kingdom. I didn't even know one was being made."

Princess Bubblegum cleared her throat. "Yes, well, as I was telling Flame Princess, the river and land next to her kingdom are home to valuable minerals that can help in my research and all of Ooo. It just takes the combination of Vince's strength and Flame Princess' heat to turn these minerals into useful items. Also, they can make jewelry for me."

"I still haven't agreed to this," Flame Princess said. "My duties as the new king demands a lot of my time, so I don't know if I can fit this in, too."

"Oh, no, it's cool! All you have to do is allow Vince access into your kingdom from time to time so he can utilize the heat. Of course, I don't expect you to do that right away, so that's why I can wait until you know each other better."

"Hm..." She looked at the stone boy. "I don't know."

"Don't worry, princess," Vince said, facing her. "I respect your wariness of me, so I'll collect minerals until you are comfortable enough."

She smiled. "Thanks, Vince. But, for now, everyone, I have very important business today that requires my full attention."

"Does that mean we can't hang out?" Finn asked.

"Well, you can follow me around, if you want, but I can't really talk to you at all."

"I'm cool with-"

"Actually, Finn," Princess Bubblegum said, "I think I should fit you with a new arm. Besides, Vince is coming back with me, and it would be good for him to know another boy."

"Oh... Okay, I can do that, too."

"Princess?" the stone boy said, raising his hand mid-way, becoming a bit bashful. "I was hoping you'd let me go to my home."

"The Stone Kingdom? It's not ready yet."

"I know, but it'll by my kingdom to rule, so I should at least help build it."

* * *

Princess Bubblegum poked Finn's right arm with a metal tool, varying in the pressure. "You can't feel any of this?"

"I feel something when you poke near my shoulder, but it's not, like, pain or anything."

"Hm." She stood up, turning to a table with an assortment of metals and fabrics. "I'm thinking of constructing an arm with an inner healing lining, but, with the condition your arm is in, I don't know if anything can actually heal."

"Whatevs." He waved his bad arm around. "The universe upgraded me from hickeys to full-on make-outs."

"What?"

"So, I don't have to use that ointment anymore, right?"

"Finn, this is serious. If your arm shrivels up, there will be nothing to attach a robotic arm to. At best, I'd have to construct an arm that syncs up with your nervous system-"

"Like a permanent arm?!"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Do that! C'mon, Princess, we should have done that in the beginning!"

"This method has never been tested before, and I only thought of it _because_ of you, but you're the only human, Finn. Not only would it be painful, but, if I mess up, the damage could go far beyond than just your arm."

"Buuuuuuut, if it works, Finn wouldn't have to worry about not having a lame arm."

She sighed, turning to the table of scraps. "I'm making you an arm with a cushioned inner layer of a serum I've been working on. It won't completely heal it, but it should keep it alive until we can find a more permanent solution."

"Like a cool, nerve combining robo arm."

"Quit it, Finn. I should have your new arm ready by tomorrow night, so avoid the Flame Kingdom until then."

"Whaaaaaaat?"

"Also, don't wear a fake arm until then. Your real arm really needs to breathe."

"Pleh." He slouched. One day wouldn't hurt, he supposed... But... "So, what's up with that Stone Prince?"

"Vince isn't a prince. He's just going to watch that land for me."

"Why not just have Flame Princess watch it? It's not like anyone else thought to put a kingdom there."

"Because Flame Princess has her own kingdom to run, and putting a kingdom there would prevent anyone from trespassing. And, for your next question, I made a boy so Ice King would stay away and not cause any problems."

"Yeah... Well, he's not gonna turn out to be evil, is he?"

"Oh, no, no, no. Vince was designed to be a normal, charming teenage boy. We don't have many of those, as you may have noticed, so I made sure to make him with care."

"So... Wait. This guy is made out of stone, was designed to be perfect, and just so happens to be placed next to the Flame Kingdom? It's like you designed him for Flame Princess."

Princess Bubblegum didn't say anything as she picked out parts to work with. She looked at him over her shoulder, face unreadable, then turned back to the table. "Don't be crazy, Finn."


End file.
